Luton MP’s appeal for action over town’s train station

The station has not been updated since the 1950s

Rachel Hopkins, MP for Luton South, held a parliamentary debate on Monday where she spoke about the inaccessibility and lack of investment in Luton train station.

Four of the five platforms at Luton train station are not accessible, causing disabled and elderly people and young families to face barriers to rail travel.

In the House of Commons, Ms Hopkins stated that she wanted “the debate to provoke action from government that leads to a redevelopment of Luton train station” as there have only been “basic remediations [to] the station since the 1950s.”

Statistics provided by Thameslink (GTR) state that the total number of journeys from Luton train station in 2019/2020 was over 3.5 million.

The Government currently awards Access for All funding to ensure there are obstacle-free, accessible routes from the station entrance to the station platform. While Access for All funding was allocated to Luton train station in 2014, it was delayed to the control period 2019-2024.

The MP asked her social media following to share their thoughts about Luton train station. Alongside the accessibility issues, many comments referenced the state of the station, including that it’s “not fit for purpose”, “dull and decrepit”, and that “one of the platforms has a waterfall”. In the debate, Ms Hopkins put many of these themes and testimonies to the Government’s Transport Minister, Huw Merriman MP.

She spoke about how redeveloping Luton train station would contribute to supporting the local economy and to reaching net zero by encouraging people to travel by public transport.

Alongside these topics, she outlined the difficulties faced by travelling Luton Town football supporters.

In the course of the debate, Ms Hopkins persuaded the Minister to visit Luton train station and to discuss the matter further.

She said: “I am incredibly proud of Luton, but we are being held back from reaching our full potential by our train station that’s not fit for purpose.

“The full redevelopment of the train station would help Luton create jobs, attract investment, and encourage new business. I look forward to meeting with the Transport Minister to continue putting forward Luton’s case for additional investment.”

Mr Merriman confirmed that the station was set to receive Access for All funding and that proposals to make all platforms accessible were at the design stage with completion due by 2024.